Russia officially bans Crimean Tatar Mejlis as "extremist":
The Supreme Court of Russian-held Crimea has branded the Crimean Tatars' self-governing body, the Mejlis, as an extremist organization and has officially banned it.
The ruling came on April 26, a week after Russia's Justice Ministry announced that the Mejlis had been placed on a list of civic and religious organizations that were being suspended for alleged extremist activity.
The Mejlis was legalized by the Ukrainian government in 1999.
Tatars make up around 12 percent of Crimea's population of 2.5 million people.
Many Crimean Tatars fled the Black Sea peninsula after it was seized by Russian military forces in February 2014 and illegally annexed by Moscow in March 2014.
Crimean Tatars who have remained in the occupied territory complain of harassment -- even disappearances -- under the Moscow-backed authorities there.
Russia has been severely criticized by international rights groups and Western governments for its treatment of the Turkic-speaking Muslim group since the annexation. (Interfax, Rapsinews)
Farmers in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region are facing the perils of planting spring crops in a conflict zone. After two years of war, thousands of mines and unexploded shells lurk beneath the soil. Before sowing their fields, local farmers must first rely on deminers to ensure their land is safe. (RFE/RL's Current Time TV, Olga Kalenichenko, Ilya Nikonov)
